Passengers were left fuming, as 25 trains which plied through or from the Ludhiana Railway Station were cancelled amid the Bharat Bandh called by farmers’ unions on Monday. The protesting farmers had blocked railway lines in Jalandhar and Samrala, disrupting rail traffic.
Around 50 trains were delayed, including Amritsar-New Delhi morning Shatabdi and Amritsar to Nanded Sachkhand express. Also, four trains were terminated at the Ludhiana station. As per railway officials, over ₹50,000 was refunded to passengers in view of the cancellations.
Some trains got stranded for at the station for over 10 hours, including the Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi, Amritsar to Nanded Sachkhand Express, Dhanbad-Firozpur Express and Chandigarh-Firozpur train. While Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi was scheduled to depart at 7.02 am, it got clearance around 5pm, leaving the passengers enraged. Amritsar to Nanded Sachkhand Express, which was supposed to depart at 6.40am, left at around 5.40pm.
Dhanbad-Firozpur Express, which was scheduled to depart at 6.45am, was terminated at Ludhiana station in the evening along with Chandigarh-Firozpur train, which was to depart at 7.15am.
Some enraged passenger barged into the office of station director Tarun Kumar, complaining that they were not told about the delay, despite making confirmation calls at the railway enquiry helplines the evening before.
{{/usCountry}}Some enraged passenger barged into the office of station director Tarun Kumar, complaining that they were not told about the delay, despite making confirmation calls at the railway enquiry helplines the evening before.
{{/usCountry}}“We repeatedly checked with the railway enquiry helplines to confirm the smooth flow of trains and we were told they will be running as per schedule. They should have cancelled the trains rather than making the passengers suffer like this”, said Dimple, a passenger of Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express
Another female passenger from Delhi, Pooja, had complained to the station director over dirty washrooms in her berth. “I am travelling with my kids. The AC in the train suddenly turned off and no one gave us water or food, which is the least they should have done. The washrooms were also dirty. Despite our complaints to the station director, he simply expressed helplessness”, she said.
Davinder Arora of Nehru Nagar, Ludhiana, said that he had no option but to wait for the train to run since buses were also off road.
Meanwhile, station director Tarun Kumar claimed that the trains were being monitored in real time from the control rooms since last evening. “We didn’t cancel any trains on Sunday, since we wanted to ensure minimum harassment to passengers. Cancelling the trains would have been an easy option for us, but we wanted to ensure public convenience. After receiving complaints, I immediately asked the staff to regularly serve water in the trains stranded here and to ensure cleanliness,” said Kumar.
Security was also increased, with teams of RPF, GRP and Ludhiana police on their toes since morning. Most shops around the station remained shut, but the liquor shops and a few dhabas at the exit gate were operational.
Meanwhile, over 50 members of the Northern Railway Men’s Union protested at the railway station to oppose the agriculture laws.